Annabel Croft confesses she still sleeps with her late husband’s scarf as she speaks candidly about her grief 18 months after his passing
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Annabel Croft has revealed she sleeps with her late husband’s scarf every night and still dresses to impress him.
The former tennis player, 58, who lost her partner Mel Coleman to cancer in May 2023, said she regrets not paying him enough compliments when he was alive because he always admired her so much.
Speaking about the Style DNA podcastthe Wimbledon host admitted: “I sleep with his scarf. I have his scarf that he wore for all the treatments and stuff, and it kind of smells like him.
“So I go to bed and sleep with his scarf next to my pillow.”
She joked that she “didn’t really like” the scarf, adding: “It’s a terrible scarf.” But he absolutely loved it, so I sleep with it in my bed.”
Annabel Croft has confessed she still sleeps with her late husband’s scarf as she spoke candidly about her grief 18 months after his death in May 2023.
The former tennis player, 58, who lost her partner Mel Coleman to cancer in May 2023, said she regrets not giving him enough compliments when he was alive (pictured in 2021)
Annabel also confessed that she will often consciously wear clothes that she knows he loved as much as Mel ‘always incredibly complimentary’ about what she was wearing.
“He always made me feel like I was the most important woman in the world,” she continued.
‘He gave me that feeling. And you know, I actually loved wearing clothes for him because he absolutely loved everything I wore and always gave me compliments.
“And I’ll regret not giving him enough compliments.” I always said he was getting prettier and aging much better than I was, and getting prettier every day.
“He was someone who aged well and became more handsome as he got older.”
Annabel said he ‘really loved my fashion’, adding: ‘I’m aware that I wear things that I know he would have loved.
“So yeah, I’ll keep doing that.”
The star confessed that she recently wore a dress she bought days before his death.
The Wimbledon presenter confessed: ‘I sleep with his scarf. I have his scarf that he wore during all the treatments and stuff, and it smells a bit like him’ (photo 2013)
The couple married in 1993 and share three adult children, Charlie, Amber and Lilly (pictured in 1988)
Annabel has been participating Strictly with her partner Johannes Radebe in recent years, documenting how it helped her through her grief
“I brought it back home and put it on to show him I imagined myself wearing that dress with him.
“And I had always visualized, ‘Oh, this is what I’m going to wear when we’re on vacation together.’ And he really loved it.”
Remembering the dress recently, she explained: ‘Of course I only wore it recently and then it dawned on me, ‘Oh my god, that was the dress I bought right before he died’.’
Mel died last May from colon cancer. He died just eight weeks after he was diagnosed with the terminal illness.
The couple married in 1993 and share three adult children, Charlie, Amber and Lilly.